Light of a New Moon
by Personal Reaper
Summary: The team, low on funds, head for the nearest mansion to offer demonhunting assistance. Things don't quite go so well.
1. Low on Gold

Light of a New Moon  
By your very own, Personal Reaper.

Disclaimer: Don't own InuYasha, or any names associated with it.

---

There was much light illuminating the area the hanyou was inhabiting; despite the sun hanging somewhere, hidden beneath the clouds; sheep's wool in the ocean of the day sky. Along the sides of a small, run-down looking shanty, were lined a wide range of characters; a monk, a demon huntress and her demon companion, a small fox demon and what seemed to be a present-day Japanese schoolgirl. While the former three seemed rather solemn and stoic, the latter two were rather obviously bored, fidgeting incessantly.

Eventually, the schoolgirl - Kagome, by name - turned towards the door, sticking her head beyond the dirty blanket used as a makeshift door to the humble little place. "InuYasha, how long do you plan on making us wait out here?" Only moments after finishing what she says, she quickly pulls her head back. A small stool, thrown from within, tore the blanket off the wood it was so barely clinging to, the bundle rolling down the slight slope with whatever velocity was left in it.

A growl came from inside, as Inu Yasha emerged; brushing a cloud of dust and grime off of his red robe impatiently. "Hold your tongue, Kagome..." He leans down a bit, patting the bottom of his robe down, as well; another light cloud escaping. After looking up to whom he was addressing - and getting the stuck-out tongue treatment - he continues. "I don't know why we had to pick the most rundown place in the entire village." He gestures to the monk slightly with one hand, it soon being filled with his trusty blade.

The monk, Miroku, readily remedied his confusion... having seen his complaint coming, apparently. "There is a demon here. We need to seem subtle if we want to convince a lord to pay us handsomely to remove it." His logic only earned him a blow to the back of the head with the sheath of InuYasha's blade.

"There's a demon right _here_, damn it! And I don't know about you, but I would much rather be attacked in a nice room than in a damn rat hole!" He fit the sword to the sash of his robe, muttering darkly as he assured himself that the sword would come free when he so desired. After a moment of groaning, Miroku finally raised himself back to his feet...with the assistance of Sango, the huntress.

Kagome, almost in sync with the other female of the group, sighed heavily. "Can we just drop it? It's morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, InuYasha is human..." She paused for a moment, before turning to face the usually half-demon. Realizing her mistake, she quickly ducked back to avoid a similar blow than that which hit Miroku.

"Damn it, woman!" His hair, which was usually a shade of silver, was black as coal; the dog ears that had their place set on his head had seemed to have vanished, along with his claws. "I really don't need a reminder of how weak I am today!" InuYasha stumbled back a bit as three hands covered over his mouth, the schoolgirl speaking again.

"Say that a little louder, InuYasha, I don't think quite all of the demons heard you." His speech robbed from him, the now-human male rolled his eyes, and kicked the monk off of him; the rest of the hands retreated soon, as well. "Well, you aren't -that- weak. Just...not as strong as usual." This warranted another growl from InuYasha, though knowing that it wouldn't be accompanied by the unsheathing of the death penalty strapped to his waist, the group shared a nice laugh.

As they started towards a rather grand-looking mansion, there was a loud cry from InuYasha; "SHUT UP, DAMN IT!" There was a little more laughing, before a thump, and a groan.

"Stop hitting Miroku, InuYasha!"

"Would you rather I hit you?"

"I'd floor you before you took a step!"

"I'd like to see you _try_!"

"SIT, BOY!" A light, pink ring of energy resounded from InuYasha's neck; before he was slammed to the ground face-first, leaving a rather deep crater. They would gather around it, and after a moment, the rather weary monk prodded at his twitching body.

"... That ... hurt ..."

The schoolgirl would shrug, and grab him by the back of his robe; trying to tug him back out of his little hole. "Oh, don't be such a wimp. You've taken six or seven of those in a row before." After being helped by the rest of the group, he'd finally be lifted out, and tossed onto the road in front of the crater.

Soon after, he'd slowly push himself up, finally rising to his feet. "Any other day but this one..." He starts to sulk off, staggering down the road, joined by the rest of the group as soon as they can catch up.

Kagome soon jogged up beside him, trying to get a look at his face, in case there were any signs of bruising. Seeing none, she just hugged around his neck gently. "Oh, don't be like that. Just because you're...in a bit of a state right now doesn't mean that you can just put your tail between your legs and mope."

InuYasha would give her a glare, mostly for the 'tail between your legs' remark. "That isn't funny." He refrains from hitting her, though, as he would have with the monk; she had him cornered, as if he even hit her lightly, there was a large chance of having another reunion between his face and the path they were walking along.

"Oh...baby."

"I am not!"

"Baaaby."

"Shut up!"

-----

Almost as soon as the group entered the mansion, they were ambushed; though, not by demons, monsters or anything supernatural like that. They were ambushed by robed figures, all of the female variety. Most fell back into a line, barring any passage any further in. One stepped forward, grabbing InuYasha by the scruff of his robe, and pulling him close.

"What business do you have here?" She yelled at him, glaring at him furiously. All InuYasha could think to do is gulp and remain motionless, having been taken completely offguard. "Answer!"

Miroku stepped forward, about to explain their situation - before catching interest in one of the girls making up the line, wandering over to chat with her quietly. So, shortly after deflecting the Hiraikotsu - her giant boomerang - off of the back of Miroku's head, Sango takes the opportunity, instead. "We heard you had a demon problem. We thought we'd offer our assistance." As the monk started to rise again, he thought himself capable of sneaking a look up that same girl's robe; only being met with two sandaled feet, pushing his head back into the ground.

The lead woman, after thinking it over for a while, nods, and gestures to the other girls to get out of the way. All of them line against the walls except one, absorbed in how interestingly the monk reacted when kicked in the stomach. After a light tapping from her superior, she followed the others, hopelessly trying to suppress laughter. "...Alright. I suppose you can stick around for the day. Just... keep your friend in check, alright?"

The group nodded in unison, save Miroku, who just groaned in pain. The lead woman continued, after giving Miroku a few prods with her foot to get him to rise. "I'll have someone show you to a temporary room. Don't get comfortable. You'll do the job, leave. Get it done fast, and I might have something prepared for you."

InuYasha, who had been being rather quiet since being grabbed, piped up. "What's our pay for this job?" Everyone...the group of women, the team, and the leader; all froze, glaring at InuYasha.

"Who said we were paying you?"

-----

More later.


	2. A Hard Day's Work

Light of the New Moon By your own, Personal Reaper. 

See chapter 1 for disclaimer. I'm far too lazy to make a quick copy/paste; instead, I decided to take more time to write this explanation why I didn't.

* * *

Crouched nearby the side of the mansion, InuYasha, Miroku and Shippo were each fanning fumes from a small fire in front of each of them. The smoke went under the mansion; faintly, there was a chattering of teeth. The former, who was still in a rather uncomfortable state due to the unseen presence of the new moon, was growling lowly, hardly putting much effort into waving his fan.

Finally, the monk would put his own fan down, turning to look at him. "What, you're still bitter?" He was met with a rather cold glare from InuYasha, one that hung there for a few moments before he actually explained.

"Well, obviously. We come in - as a TEAM - to kill a demon." He paused for a moment, looking to the other two males of the original group; both nodding confirmingly. "Then we were halted by a freakish bunch of women." He paused again; after a quick scan around to see if they were being watched, there was a slow nod of the head from each of them again. "Then we were told to kill the demon for no pay, and for a meal if we do it in an hour."

Miroku quickly spoke up as Shippo put down his own fan, turning to look behind him; he saw something moving around the side of the house, but stayed silent for fear of being hit with something by one of the larger males. "Well, to be fair, we never specified we wanted to be pa-"

The monk got half-way through the word 'paid' before being punched in the side of the head, falling over to nurse what would become a rather nasty bruise. "Damn it, monk, you never told them to pay us?"

"Well, no, I hadn't thought to...the rumor was that a bunch of girls needed help with a demon, and..."

"And you just jumped at the chance to be rejected by several girls at the same time, didn't you?" Since Miroku really had no answer for this, he just stayed quiet; picking up his fan, and starting to feed the fumes back under the building. On a high from this victory in a string of defeats, he leaned back to brag to Shippo; to see only a fox tail vanish behind the corner of the house. "Shippo! Where are you going?"

He gets no response. After looking down at Miroku for a few moments, he decides against bringing him along; just getting up himself, and wandering off after Shippo. Miroku just continues to fan, sighing dejectedly, apparently not noticing the demons leaving him behind. In truth, he was looking back over what had happened earlier, to see where things went downhill.

* * *

It was just shortly after the clan of women had taken them off-guard with that last question...

"Who said we were paying you?"

...and the team was clustered around a small, ratty-looking couch. They all opted not to sit on it, as it seemed as if it would collapse in the face of a gentle breeze, despite the reassurances - interestingly, in the form of shouted orders - from the lead woman. Shippo and Kirara soon hopped onto it; causing it to creak ominously. Both jumped off just as it more or less turned to lumps and dust.

"You're replacing that." She snapped her fingers, and two women - different ones than before, and clad in white instead of black - cleaned the remains of the couch, including dusting off the kitten-like demon...much to her amusement. "Now, to business. There's a demon under this estate that had been causing some of my sisters to be extremely bitter."

Under his breath, the hanyou muttered, "Only some?" This got a snicker out of Miroku, and an elbow to the chest by Kagome. After being stared at for a while, InuYasha sighed, and waved his hand, letting her continue.

"...Right. No meal for the loudmouth." She took a well-planned step back, just in time to dodge a swipe with the Tetsuaiga scabbard. "One of you, calm him. Or no meal, period." There was a chorus of 'Sit', though only one was needed; and the temporary human took an unplanned trip to the ground. The lead woman paused a moment, nudging InuYasha. Once he started to twitch and move, she backed up from him. "Take care of it how you will."

The team - once the leader managed to get back to his feet - turned to leave, before half of them found moving more difficult. Two women had gotten in the way of Kagome and Sango, and a third had picked up Kirara, petting her carefully. After noticing, the males turned around, coming back to the group. "Hey, we have to do this by ourselves? Sango's the demon expert!" Shippo called up; retreating behind InuYasha after a cold glare from the lead woman.

"I will not sit idly by while these women work for no pay. -You- three will slay the demon, -these- three will not." She explained, the three women leading the femme half of the team away. "Smoke it out, I don't care. Do no more damage to the mansion, or you will be compensating us fully."

Another chorus, this one of groans as more women forced the men out the door and to the side of the house, three fans thrown out after them. This was in the morning. There they had stayed for several hours.

* * *

InuYasha stood just out of sight from where Miroku was, around the corner. He looked down to see Shippo, staring unbreakably in front of him. He slowly followed the fox demon's gaze, and tilted his head dumbly. "...Oh, damn it. You've -got- to be kidding me."

In front of them, there was a sign with the words "HOT SPRINGS" emblazened on it in bold, red letters. And behind it, free of any unnatural barrier, was a gigantic boomerang stuck in the ground, and a bow leaned against it. Now, usually he would be understanding, for it had been explained to them that the men would work. But, faced with no meal, boring work and his woman getting the hot springs without lifting a finger...anger.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaagh!"

One would hate to be the Hot Springs sign right then.

* * *

Yeah, I know I didn't accomplish much story-wise this time around, but... >.>; 


End file.
